Wolfire Games Forums

I'm intrigued. I've watched update after update, and I'm genuinely fascinated. After watching the NerdCubed clip I thought, right, that's it... tomorrow morning I'm pre-ordering and checking out the alpha.

But the platform components frighten me. Will there be much of it? Because I played games throughout the 80s, and jumping puzzles and spike traps were all the rage because computers had the computational power of the average ice addict. But there is no excuse for platformers in this day and age, none. They should have been eradicated like smallpox. So, will there be much jumping / timing / reloading in Overgrowth?

Regardless, fantastic work with what's been presented, each update is absolutely fascinating viewing. I hope to mod the game with dialogue / quests / decision making paths. Some people might like tearing about kicking and jumping. I hope to play the game with lots of exploring, diplomacy, sporadic knocking the teeth out of Mr Flopsy's head.

Rabbits. Kungfu. Roleplaying game. It's only now occured to me why these elements strike such a chord with me....

http://iscampbell.net/wp/wp-content/upl ... _magic.jpg

So......what are you trying to say? that we have evolved in gaming since the 80s? That this game is going to be really cool? Well I got something for you:you get the Nobel prize for being Einstein junior

So you're telling me that the reason Uncharted 3 sold so many copies is because the combat is unique and immersive? Hell, the combat is the stalest thing in Uncharted. It's the platforming. I also think you took the comparison too far. Saying that OG shouldn't have platforming simply because the 80s had it and it's old is a little silly. Platforming is still really goddamn fun for me, but it's also not dead. Many games these days lack platforming and so they feel shallow to me.
But I agree that the frustrating, reload 20 times, rage quit to calm down kind of platforming found widespread in the 80's and almost exclusively for Tomb Raider in the late 90s isn't the right path. You can have fun, challenging platforming that doesn't cause us mass frustration. But it also can't be too easy. The exact purpose of platforming is to challenge the spatial and explorative portions of our brains that we very rarely use in out lives.

Examples of BA platforming that are EXACTLY why we should still have it:
Overgrowth
Shadow of the Colossus
Legacy of Kain
Spyro the Dragon (Yeah, the old ones)
Abe's Oddysey (Once again, an old one)

While some of the examples are old, they're still fun even if they are tough. That's why we play platformers. They're also fun to make. It takes a creative person to make fun and engaging platforming levels.

Ultimately, one of the cool things about the planned design of Overgrowth is that the levels will be pretty open, with very little chances that there will be only 1 way to beat a level. So if a level has difficult platforming, you will probably just be able to avoid that part of the map. Or, you come back later and try the platforming again. The choice will be up to you.

Also, except for custom made maps, there has been very little jump timing in the game, and the platforming has actually been quite easy. Usually if you fail, you don't die, and you don't have to start over. It's still hard to tell if that will always be the case, but this is a combat game more than a platformer. The other thing to consider is that the combat of this game really relies on timing, especially for blocking and dodging, so I have to reload levels all the time if I'm having a bad combat day...

@Korban I think Uncharted's success is more due to the fact that Naughty Dog has been able to make the series a very well-presented cinematic adventure. It's a bit like Indiana Jones on steroids. I don't think the platforming can be cited as the biggest reason for the series' success, although it certainly is a large component of the game.

I don't mind platforming games. Maybe it's because I played them when I was younger, but I always loved games like Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter (the first installment, before it got all shooty- though I liked those games as well ) With that said, Lugaru never felt like a platformer, really. It felt like everything, including the platforming, was centered around combat- maybe I had to focus on timing a few wall jumps and flips, but that was only so I could dropkick a wolf in the face, see? It seems like Overgrowth is going in a very similar direction as Lugaru in terms of gameplay mechanics and objectives, so I don't think you'll have to worry about there being too much platforming, or any difficult platforming. I can't say the same for user-made content, though

I love me them old platformers too. I played a lot of Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and Tomb Raider as a kid. And Nightmare Creatures 1 and 2. Obviously, my childhood was left shattered, but god was it fun.

As for Uncharted, it feels to me like it's cinematicism owes quite a lot to it's animations, audio (in general) and the climbing. It's an ass-ton more cinematic to be climbing around on some moving thing that's on fire than to be standing in it. But, you have a point. The climbing isn't the only reason it sells well.